Great security and worthless usability

The RSA security show is, as the name implies, organised by security vendor RSA. The vendor might not be the biggest player in the security market, but it happens to be one of the first. And today the company is still dominating its segment with the security access tokens.

RSA naturally wants to show off great security. So the wireless network at the show here is bolted down in all kinds of ways, using acronyms that make the average computer geek blush.

It also shows that security and ease of use are at still direct opposites.

Delegates trying to set up the network receive a 6 page manual. And even after entering the settings exactly as instructed, I couldn't get things working.

So one minor suggestion for the security industry: don't create security that is impossible to use. Users will just switch it off entirely and go online unprotected. At least, that's how I got this posting online...

Tags: RSA conference, rsa 2006, silicon valley